Anjem Choudary, in His Own Words

"In the Quran it is not allowed for you to feel sorry for non-Muslims. I don't feel sorry for him." — Anjem Choudary.

"Eventually the whole world will be governed by Shari'ah & Muslims will have authority over China Russia USA etc This is the promise of Allah." — Anjem Choudary.

"Under the Koran the sale of alcohol is prohibited and if one were to also drink alcohol, that would be 40 lashes." — Anjem Choudary.

"We [Muslims] take the Jizya, which is ours anyway. The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar [non-Muslim]. They give us the money. You work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar. We take the money." — Anjem Choudary.

The British Islamist firebrand Anjem Choudary has been released from police custody after he was arrested for allegedly being a member of a banned terrorist group.

Choudary and nine other radical Muslims were detained during dawn raids in London on September 25 as part of an ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation into Islamist-related terrorism.

Choudary—one of the most high-profile jihadists in the United Kingdom, and well known for his relentless resolve to implement Islamic Sharia law there—is a former spokesman of the Muslim extremist group, al-Muhajiroun (Arabic: The Emigrants).

Al-Muhajiroun—which repeatedly celebrated the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001—was banned under the UK Terrorism Act 2000, in January 2010.

Since then, al-Muhajiroun has repeatedly reinvented itself under an array of successor aliases. These include, among others: Islam4UK, Call to Submission, Islamic Path, Islamic Dawa Association, London School of Sharia, Muslims Against Crusades and Need4Khalifah, all of which have also been proscribed.

A study published by the London-based Henry Jackson Society in September 2014 found that one in five terrorists convicted in Britain over more than a decade have had links to al-Muhajiroun.

An investigative report published by the British anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate in November 2013 concluded that al-Muhajiroun was "the single biggest gateway to terrorism in recent British history."

Al-Muhajiroun—founded by Choudary and the exiled preacher, Omar Bakri Mohammed—is said to have also played a major role in radicalizing Michael Adebolajo, who was found guilty of murdering (and attempting to decapitate) the British soldier Lee Rigby outside London's Woolwich Barracks in May 2013.

Choudary said Rigby would "burn in hellfire" as a non-Muslim, and also praised Adebolajo as a "martyr." He said:

"Allah said very clearly in the Koran 'Don't feel sorry for the non-Muslims.'

"So as an adult non-Muslim, whether he is part of the Army or not part of the Army, if he dies in a state of disbelief then he is going to go to the hellfire.

"That's what I believe so I'm not going to feel sorry for non-Muslims.

"We invite them to embrace the message of Islam. If they don't, then obviously if they die like that they're going to the hellfires."

Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary (right) praised one of the murderers of British solider Lee Rigby (left) as a "martyr" and said Rigby would "burn in hellfire" as a non-Muslim.

According to police, over the past several months, groups believed to be successors to al-Muhajiroun have been circulating material highly sympathetic to the jihadist group Islamic State [IS], which has declared that it wants to establish an Islamic theocracy in the Middle East, and has threatened to attack targets in Europe and North America.

British police said the nine men, aged between 22 and 51, were arrested on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organization and supporting a proscribed organization, contrary to Section 11 and 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and of encouraging terrorism, contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

After a day of questioning, Choudary and eight others were released on bail on September 26. The men have been ordered to return to police stations in central London in January. In the meantime, police say they will continue their investigation.

A close friend of Choudary, Trevor Brookes (aka Abu Izzadeen), remains in custody after being charged with breaching his obligations under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, for allegedly failing to notify police that he had moved to a new address.

Choudary—whose bail-restrictions include a ban on foreign travel and public preaching—said his arrest was a "politically motivated" effort by the government to silence him on the eve of a Parliamentary vote on military intervention in Iraq.

On September 26, the House of Commons voted 524 to 43 to approve a request by British Prime Minister David Cameron to join the American-led coalition against the jihadist group Islamic State, albeit only in Iraq and not in Syria.

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper minutes after he was released, Choudary said:

"I think that David Cameron has plunged Britain into a very bloody war, which will manifest itself on the streets of London. We saw it before with 7/7 [July 7, 2005 bombings in London], 9/11 [Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.], it's inevitable, if they are going to attack Muslims abroad.

"I'm not involved in any terrorism. I have and will continue to expose the British government for their foreign policy. I fight ideas with ideas."

Until now, Choudary, a lawyer by training, has managed to tread the fine legal line between the inflammatory rhetoric of Islamic supremacism and the right to free speech. He has never been convicted of any offense, presumably much to the frustration of British authorities.

Nor has Choudary expressed a fear of being imprisoned. "If they arrest me and put me in prison," he has said, "I will carry on in prison. I will radicalize everyone in prison."

Police say that Choudary has become far more brazen since the IS proclaimed the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria in June 2014. Since then, they say, he has repeatedly crossed the legal threshold for criminal prosecution for encouraging terrorism, such as recently justifying the beheading of the American journalist, James Foley.

In an interview with the Washington, D.C.-based Clarion Project, Choudary said that the beheading of Foley by IS operatives is authorized under Sharia law because as a journalist, Foley attacked the IS. Choudary said:

"Muslims who abide by the Sharia and follow the jurisprudence do not make a distinction between civilians and army. This fellow [Foley] was not just a civilian of America. He was a journalist."

Separately, Choudary has insisted that he does not know the knifeman who decapitated Foley. "I'd recognize his voice if it was someone I knew," he said. But he refused to condemn the execution:

"There are circumstances in Sharia where there is capital punishment for crimes that have been committed. Now I do not know anything about these journalists, why they were there, whether they were spying or in fact part of the military. Often it turns out that people have other roles as well."

Choudary is, however, adamant that the United States is responsible for the murder of Foley:

"If you look at the death of James Foley, you only have to listen to the person who is executing him to know that the blame is the Americans' because of their own foreign policy. The fact is that decades of torture, cruelty and mass murder will have repercussions."

Choudary also said he feels no sympathy for another British hostage, Alan Henning, a volunteer aid worker marked as the next individual to be beheaded by the IS. Choudary said:

"In the Quran it is not allowed for you to feel sorry for non-Muslims. I don't feel sorry for him."

In an August interview with the UK-based Fubar Radio, Choudary admitted that pro-IS protesters in London were his students.

Radio host Jon Gaunt asked Choudary: "Are these students of yours... the ones handing out the leaflets?" Choudary responded: "Yes... I have known them for several years, they have attended many demonstrations... many lectures of mine. Very good chaps."

And in a Tweet sent hours before his arrest, Choudary condemned U.S. air strikes against the IS:

"The Islamic State could not wish for a better rallying call for Muslims worldwide to join them than for the USA to start bombing again."

"Eventually the whole world will be governed by Shari'ah & Muslims will have authority over China Russia USA etc This is the promise of Allah."

In September 2014, Choudary said that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is "the caliph of all Muslims and the prince of the believers."

Choudary has also been insistent in his demands that Sharia law be enforced in the UK.

In December 2013, for instance, Choudary led a group of more than 60 Muslim protesters on a march through east London to demand that businesses stop selling alcohol:

"What we did is we posted a notice to the shop owners saying that under Sharia and under the Koran the sale of alcohol is prohibited and if one were to also drink alcohol, that would be 40 lashes.

"We were there to teach them that just because they are living among non-Muslims is no excuse because Sharia law will be implemented in Britain, and so they should be aware that just because it is not Sharia today, they can't just do whatever they like.

"There will be no more pubs, no more gambling houses, no more national lottery.

"All women would have to be covered up appropriately and wear the niqab or veil and so there will be no prostitution. By 2050, Britain will be a majority Muslim country.

"It will be the end of freedom of democracy and submission to God. We don't believe in democracy, as soon as they have authority, Muslims should implement Sharia. This is what we're trying to teach people."

Choudary said the group, known as the Shariah Project (which police say is a successor to al-Muhajiroun), would be arranging many more similar rallies in the future. "This is just the beginning," he promised.

Choudary, who is married and has four children, enjoys a comfortable lifestyle that is being paid for, year after year, by British taxpayers. In 2010, the newspaper The Sunreported that he takes home more than £25,000 ($40,000) a year in welfare benefits.

In February 2013, Choudary urged his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so that they could have more time to plot holy war against non-Muslims. He said Muslims are entitled to welfare payments because they are a form of jizya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims in countries run by Muslims, and a reminder that non-Muslims are permanently inferior and subservient to Muslims.

"We [Muslims] take the Jizya, which is ours anyway. The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar [non-Muslim]. They give us the money. You work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar. We take the money."

Choudary added: "Hopefully there's no one from the DSS [Department of Social Security] listening to this."

In a recent interview with the American news outlet, Fox News, Choudary warned that Westerners have no choice: "Sharia law is coming to a place near you."

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him onFacebook and onTwitter.

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22 Reader Comments

Tim Mootz • Oct 5, 2014 at 16:14

Great Britain needs to deport this pathetic man or lock him up in solitary for the rest of his life. He shouldn't be allowed to spread his hateful message. If there is not a law to allow this, then Great Britain needs to pass one to deal with this worldwide virus before they are destroyed by it!

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Rita Whinfield • Oct 5, 2014 at 10:49

As a British taxpayer, I am offended at this attitude Choudary displays. I wish I could tell the government, I do not want my hard earned contributions paying this man to incite violence and racial hatred in my country. He is a bigot and a racist, but off course because he is not 'white' then he can't be accused of being a racist. However because of my comments, no doubt I will be so accused, and if wanting to keep sharia and their mad ideas out of Britain is racist, then yes I am racist. If these people wish to live under sharia law, then emigrate to a country that has it

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The Baron • Oct 1, 2014 at 19:27

People like Choudary are symptoms of the disease, not the cause. No strong, healthy civilization would ever tolerate, and indeed breed, people like this in their midst like the modern liberal West does.

The disease is liberalism and multiculturalism. The enemy is not Choudary, but the ideology and enablers within our own society who have allowed our civilization to degenerate to it's present sorry state. Choudary is doing us a favor, by putting a mirror up to the West and revealing how weak and pathetic we have become. We are simply far too civilized for our own good, and are being exploited and punished for it. How many more beheadings do we need before Western man is awakened, and takes the necessary actions to secure his lands? Who or what can break the suicidal spell of multicultural liberalism?

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Deputy 16 • Oct 1, 2014 at 16:01

Obviously Mr.Choudary is a hypocrite. A "true believer" would have taken up arms with the Islamic State. He speaks of jihad but remains back in the UK where it's safe. What a coward. Last week, the jihadist in Oklahoma received a proper response to his savagery. Unfortunately, he is still breathing.

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Kyra • Oct 1, 2014 at 10:33

What is wrong with the pansy English that they tolerate this incitement to welfare fraud and violence against their own natural-born citizens??? I fear they are doomed as long as they don't stand up to this vile teat-sucking creature? He abandoned his own family. How's that for the moral high ground?

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Spaniard • Oct 1, 2014 at 05:06

He should have already been expelled! Why does he still be in Britain living off British taxpayers? If someone said about Muslims the same he's saying about Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims he'd already be in prison. This is how they roll in "progressive" Britain.

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Ron Thompson • Sep 30, 2014 at 19:50

I have a kind of perverse respect for Choudary, whose statements I've followed for years. For he lays out all the core commandments of the Koran, and Sharia law, with breathtaking candor and in perfect clarity. He is a superb representative and spokesman for Islam.But one has the feeling that the British people are not listening, and most certainly the British government isn't listening. Or perhaps they simply can't believe he actually MEANS what he says, and that any Muslims willing and eager to engage in murderous violence BELIEVE exactly what he's saying.

Remarkably, Choudary has successfully turned the British State into a subservient power to himself, with his belief that he has a RIGHT to all his welfare benefits, not as humanitarian aid or British society's pursuit of social justice and fairness for all its citizens, but as payment of the Koranic Jizya TAX. Which is taken by him to recognize his claim to superiority over all British non-Muslims who who supply through their taxes the money which support him. He calls for all Muslims to obtain this tax payment for themselves as a matter of Koranic RIGHT.

How amazing that this usurpation of sovereignty has continued for years when he has openly expressed this belief for years?

He also makes it clear, or it should be clear, that the only way to NOT resist radical Muslims is to submit and give up your freedom to them. As they advance out of the Middle East the only way not to eventually have to fight is to surrender. For if you don't recognize your subservience to them, then YOU are attacking THEM rather than the other way round.

But perhaps my favorite expression of candor is when he says, "In the Quran it is not allowed for you to feel sorry for non-Muslims". In other words he says Muslims are forbidden to follow or respect the Golden Rule.

Perhaps we just should hand over our freedoms, our values, our armies, and our wealth to Muslims like Choudary, and be done pretending that we wish to control our own lives, or indeed have any self-respect left.

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Morag Woode • Sep 30, 2014 at 18:15

Why hasn't he been expelled from the UK. and why would the police release him. Isn't an incitement to violence and murder an offence?

It seems that the judiciary and even the police themselves too often are the biggest obstacles to ensuring that the wishes of the people concerning these blatantly antagonistic Islamist activists are expected.

It's time for considerations of citizenship to be revoked for those who do not respect the laws of the country in which they are resident.

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Timothy • Sep 30, 2014 at 16:50

This sorry excuse for a human can make all the false prophecies he wants. His brand of stupidity is doomed to fail and will fail. Here in America our citizens alone will decimate his terrorists if they are ignorant enough to rear their vile little limited capacity heads. I hope the UK will lock this piece of garbage named Choudary in a cell and weld the door shut.

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Dieter • Sep 30, 2014 at 16:44

"He has never been convicted of any offense, presumably much to the frustration of British authorities."

What utter rot. All the frustration has been on the part of the long suffering public who have had to watch and listen to this mountebank spout treason and sedition whilst the British government did nothing = for fear of inciting racial disharmony. He has never been convicted because he has never been seriously charged with anything.

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Mike Ramirez • Sep 30, 2014 at 15:33

Quote: "Under the Koran the sale of alcohol is prohibited and if one were to also drink alcohol, that would be 40 lashes." — Anjem Choudary.

Choudary did not reveal the ultimate penalty that is to be imposed upon someone who enjoys a glass of wine from time to time. According to Muhammad's instructions in the Hadith, here is what happens to a person who is caught upon the third time of drinking wine:

"The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If they (the people) drink wine, flog them, again if they drink it, flog them. Again if they drink it, kill them."
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 38, Number 4467)

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Martin Haas • Sep 30, 2014 at 14:57

Dear Gatestone InstituteI read your essays on an almost daily basis. They are long, but HIGHLY INFORMATIVE and researched well. You do a GREAT service to the CAUSE.

Is there any way to have the daily essay sent and read to MANY addressses? I know that you can bring a horse to the water but cannot make it drink and that is valid for so many bigoted potential readers as well. HOWEVER, in my opinion your essays are so good that one must try to spread the word.... After all we may well be in the latest episode of an attempted Moslem takeover of the civilized world which has been forced down our civilized throats for the last 1400 years. PLEASE keep up the great work

Sincerely

Martin Haas,Univ California San Diego

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Thomas Martin • Sep 30, 2014 at 12:23

It sounds like the UK has backed itself into a corner and needs to clean up its back yard. I am very concerned that the UK is allowing this radical group the room to roam and develop a solid base for expressing and following radical Islam and sharia law. If he does go to prison he deserves solitary confinement. Deport these radicals if possible. Why do they receive welfare payments of $40,000 a year? It sounds like everything possible is being done to accommodate them. The sooner Choudary discovers the UK follows laws and not religious doctrine the better off we all will be.

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John MacArthur • Sep 30, 2014 at 09:18

I knew about this man years ago in the UK. His stock in trade is influencing young, disenfranchised Muslim men, unable to integrate into British society. There are a very large number of such people and he has been building a network for years. Tellingly, his mentor was Omar Bakri to whom is attributed Choudary's oft-repeated mantra that "the black flag of Shari'a will fly over Downing Street".Some believe him to be nothing more than a marginal lunatic on the fringe; nothing could be further from the truth. He is influential and, in my view, a clear and present threat to be taken seriously.

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Puliues admiratus • Sep 30, 2014 at 08:31

Pick him up and fly him to Syria and drop him in the middle of a blessed land of Sharia. There he will be very happy, yes? Or does he prefer to grow fat and run his mouth in a land where speech is free and where people in prison are better off than the average citizen under Sharia?

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Abner Pale Puliues admiratus • Oct 2, 2014 at 21:45

Can they not perform a rendition, pick him up and fly him to Iraq and drop him of near Mosul. The Shiites will make quick work of him, because it is his brothers who are beheading and killing them in Iraq and in Syria.

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Omar • Sep 30, 2014 at 07:50

He doesn't represent Muslims in UK, his followers are not even 1% of the Muslims in UK. Let him go fight in Syria if he a true jihadist as he calls himself, and attain martyrdom. Don't give a media platform people like him.

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Dennis Barron Omar • Oct 1, 2014 at 08:55

He wants to lead from the rear. I wonder if he's really convinced about everything he says. I'd like to ask him why any soldiers of Islam get blown up by bombs if they represent Allah. Better yet show us how you are that soldier of Islam, you ass.

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Steve Skeete Omar • Oct 2, 2014 at 11:44

What if instead of being a Muslim Anjem Choudary was a Christian, spewing hate, mocking the system, and "biting the hand that feeds him? I am positive some law would have been found long ago to incarcerate him under. Since it repudiated Christianity, the UK has opened itself to the "better" and "peaceful" Islam. It has already capitulated. 2050? Possibly earlier if they remain incapable of handling the Choudarys of the Islamic world.

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Fred • Sep 30, 2014 at 07:26

Now, Choudary - there is a person that has no hesitation to inflame & incite to violence. Anytime he appears there is only base hatred spewing from face. He seems to have a charmed existence as nobody got the better of him. The way he praises the most gruesome atrocities you would think we live in the days of Gengis Khan. Governments where Muslim reside have no idea how much hatred & violence is preached in Maddrases & Mosques. After all where can one get all this if not from preachers. No wonder ISIS has recruits galore thanks to hate mongers like Choudary.

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Firoze Mohammad • Sep 30, 2014 at 06:50

Choudhary and his disciples, and their families should be put on a RAF plane and parachuted to the Caliphate. Here he can lead a pious life, and live contentedly among true believers, avail the services of beautiful Yazidi slaves, practice beheading of infidels as a weekend pastime. He can snap pictures of his children holding the severed heads of infidels and tweet it around the world.

Hopefully the the bombings will one day dispatch him to the Abode of 72 doe eyed virgins.

In Bangladesh, where I live, yesterday the police arrested one of Anjem's disciples. He is Samiun Rahman, 22 years old and a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin. The U.K. embassy has already expressed concern over his welfare!! Without his British passport Samiun would have easily won a 20 year sentence with hard labor. Remember Bangladesh is over 90% Sunni Muslims and horrified what is happening in the Caliphate

The West is subverting itself under a illusion that liberal values will convert psychopaths in to normal human beings.

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Russell • Sep 30, 2014 at 05:29

It's about time those that incite violence were dealt with in Britain. Nor should it be possible to simply change the name of an organisation to undermine a banning order. Any and all aliases present or future should be included in the banning order. That way membership can be prosecuted immediately.

When jailed, those continuing to incite or convert others to Islam should be placed in solitary confinement. Really, those that condones murder under any law than British Law in order to attempt to replace by violence the British Society and Ruling infrastructure (Parliament and Monarchy) is actually classed as High Treason Against. I believe the sentence for that is still death by hanging. I may stand to be corrected on that one but I'm pretty sure that it was the only crime for which death was not excluded as maximum sentence.